Just blame it on the State Government

With the December 2006 deadline for Ku-ring-gai town centres fast approaching, we ask whether the State Government has become an all too convenient scapegoat for some councillors.

With the December 2006 deadline for Ku-ring-gai's six town centres less than six months away, members of the community are asking why so much development is slated for Ku-ring-gai in, what they perceive as, excess of plans laid down by the State Government?

To date, the Department has received plans for the St Ives and Turramurra town centres and preliminary notifications for Gordon, Pymble, Roseville and Lindfield.

For months, councillors have publicly proclaimed themselves the helpless enforcers of the State Government's planning policies. In April, Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Elaine Malicki told residents in the council newsletter: "This has been imposed on us by the State Government and we have little choice but to implement these changes and try to reduce negative impacts on residents."

The threat of the Minister removing council's planning powers has become a common catch cry of councillors when pushing through town centre plans. "I don't want more development however if we don't follow the process we will lose our planning powers and the Minister will do it for us without any benefit to our community," said Cr Nick Ebbeck.

Has the State Government become an all too convenient scapegoat for some Ku-ring-gai councillors?

"The Liberal faction of council appears to be caught up in their own egos and drunk with power," said Alan Parr, one local resident who has been at the forefront of the town centre debate.

"Their apparent party politics seem to be interfering with their better judgement of development issues."

Late last month, Mr Parr, a prominent member of the resident action group Friends of Turramurra, made a presentation to the Ku-ring-gai Preservation Trust titled "The Demolition Code ... Now at a town centre near you."

Speaking outside of his involvement with Turramurra Friends Mr Parr said, "It seems strange that councillors keep spreading the message that all of this is imposed by the State Government when it would appear that the Liberal faction of the council is pushing through development far beyond the State Government's published requirements."

The Metropolitan Strategy, the NSW Government's 25-year plan for Sydney, requires the North sub-region, made up of Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai municipalities, to provide 20,000 to 21,000 new dwellings. "Assuming the distribution of new dwellings will be similar to the existing distribution, Ku-ring-gai must supply 40 per cent of the new dwellings," Mr Parr said.

40 per cent of the specified 21,000 dwellings amounts to 8,400 dwellings. "Yet Council has so far planned nearly 15,000 new dwellings in Ku-ring-gai, representing almost double the State Government's requirements," said Mr Parr. "And this is before they start planning our other neighbourhood centres."

Cr Ebbeck said that assumptions such as Mr Parr's are not applicable in this instance because "there are further ingredients to the calculations. Firstly, Ku-ring-gai has never completed a residential strategy where Hornsby has. Look at Waitara, it is fundamentally already developed." 

"Because there is no centre in Ku-ring-gai classified as bigger than a town centre in the Metro Strategy, it would appear that the State Government does not wish, or need, to become involved in planning in Ku-ring-gai," said Mr Parr.

Ku-ring-gai Council is in a unique position of having two sets of controls in operation. "We have more than the Metro Strategy to follow. We have a directive on all of our centres and State Planning authorities recently reiterated that the Minister's directive of 2004 still has to be complied with," said Cr Malicki.

Mr Parr also wants to know why council is looking to approve almost double the retail space in the town centres (on average) for only a 20 per cent population increase.

"Ku-ring-gai has a lot of escape trading, that is, people in Ku-ring-gai go and shop outside of Ku-ring-gai," said Cr Malicki, "These plans are a means of recapturing some of the escape retail, but that being said we pulled back retail plans for Gordon.

"Where our hands are tied is that there needs to be viability for those who want to develop," said Cr Malicki.

'Viability' is the new buzzword being employed by council in its attempt to sell such a mammoth level of development to the community. What this means is that while the Planning Minister's directive stipulated 4.6 stories, viability means that developments could go as high as seven and nine storeys. Cr Malicki said council has employed external viability consultants and had additional experts check on those initial findings.

"The zoning must provide financial incentive for it to be rezoned or nothing will ever happen. We have to accommodate this and on some sites, like in Gordon, you will need to develop a little higher to achieve commercial viability," said Cr Ebbeck - an Independent but a self-proclaimed member of council's Liberal faction. 

"They [the State Government] expect us to deliver on those numbers totally. So we have to rezone additional areas to allow for areas that are not taken up," said Cr Malicki.

"Simply because something is developed, it does not mean it will be rezoned and the Minister knows that," said Cr Ebbeck. "If we don't rezone or rezone at a height that is not viable the minister will rezone to make them viable and secondly take away our planning powers."

Ku-ring-gai Council's antagonistic relationship with State Planning authorities has been well documented. While that relationship is now on much better terms, the Mayor herself acknowledges the role that this hostile history is now playing in the planning demands being placed on council.

"Our history has had a big role and that's why it was so critical to try and get a better relationship [with the Department of Planning]. I guess you could see it as punishment or catch up for the development we delayed taking on in the past. But we've accepted that was then and this is now and we're doing it."

"We are the only council in Sydney that has not provided our residential strategy and the Minister believes we are not taking our fair share of growth," said Cr Ebbeck.

Late last month Cr Malicki and other senior council planning staff met with Planning NSW. "I think it's the best outcome we've had from any meeting that's ever been held. I finally feel we've got people we can talk to," she said.

Whether or not Ku-ring-gai's infrastructure can cope with such increased development is an issue yet to be addressed. "It's an absolutely huge amount of growth. We're already having black outs, water stoppages and our roads are a mess. Unless the State Government does something to improve infrastructure I think we will have trouble coping."

 Part of the difficulty of the task burdening Ku-ring-gai is planning in isolation. The State Government is yet to release detailed sub-regional strategies. "To that extent we're ahead," said Cr Malicki, "Though we still need to negotiate with Hornsby on those numbers."

Cr Malicki said she would not be drawn on how confident she was of council planning staff's competency in taking on a task of such proportions. "I think it's probably too big a job for any council but we're doing a valiant job. I certainly don't think any other council has had to plan as much in any 18-month span."

Town planners familiar with the workings of State Government state that as a rule of good planning, projects of such size and scope as that being undertaken by Ku-ring-gai Council require lengthy preparation. Given council is under pressure to have plans completed by the end of the year, is it any wonder that it has led to what local community groups have resoundingly labelled bad planning?

The Department of Planning isn't exhibiting any signs of sympathy or rescission. A spokesperson for the Department reiterated that, "the Minister's initial preference for completion was within 12 months of the original request on 27 May 2004." In the Department's eyes, it seems December 2006 is concession enough already.

The Department of Planning said it remains "confident that Council will be able to proceed to statutory public exhibition of all six plans in the near future," said a spokesperson.

Ku-ring-gai Council has requested the Department of Planning certify plans for St Ives and Turramurra town centres for statutory public exhibition ahead of the planned December deadline. Before that can happen, Government agencies (such as the RTA, rail, health) will consult the plans and alter them to see suit their needs.

So there might be more change to be had yet still.